Ok, well not quite! As you probably know, the London Olympics are on tap for 2012, and like most things in this day and age, software testing is an integral part of the process.

A few weeks ago, London Olympics CIO Gerry Pennell announced that he allocated 70 ISEB & ISTQB testers, 200,000 man hours in total, to test all the software needed for the games in his lab. The testing effort follows 2 years of software development, the process of which began in 2009.

Once the lab testing is complete, then all the software and hardware will be transferred to the actual venues for on-site testing. Once the games actually commence, more than 5,000 people will have contributed to the technological development, testing, and deployment of the required software systems.

Some examples of the types of software being tested include the track event timers, logistical applications needed to move athletes around, scoreboards, volunteer portal, boundary sensors, and obviously much more. Additionally, new technologies are involved, such as the first-time deployment of a standardized Olympic data feed, mobile applications for athletes and media members, and real-time feeds to commentators.

The security of all the associated data is also part of the testing procedure. One stat I saw is that the Beijing Olympics had 12-14 million data security items that needed to be validated on a daily basis. Yikes.

All in all, this is obviously a huge effort for the developers and testers involved. One small problem could create a domino effect that could literally waste millions of dollars, not to mention time. Additionally, a lot of reputations are at stake simply because of the global visibility of the event. Now THAT is pressure!